Yo Soy Chicano Not Hispanic! Get It Right (August 25, 1990)

On August 25, 1990, several thousand Chicanas/os marched in East Los Angeles to commemorate the historic Chicano Moratorium march that took place twenty years earlier on August 29, 1970 when 30,000 Chicanas/os protested the Viet Nam War.

It was on August 29, 1970, that Ruben Salazar, Lyn Ward and Angel Gilberto Díaz were assassinated as a result of the police instigated riot that saw many store fronts along Whittier Blvd. go up in flames as the community defended itself from the occupying police force.

Twenty years later, Chicanas/os marched to protest the increasing militarization of the border, police brutality, and many of the same issues that were still relevant since the late 1960s and 1970s.

The Chicana (on the above photo) carrying the sign “Yo Soy Chicano Not Hispanic! Get It Right” had the foresight to challenge the Hispanic assault on our Chicana/o-Mexicana/o-Indigenous identity that took root in the 1980s, but has now become a daily routine from American institutions (government, media, schools, etc.) post Chicano Movement.